


Aftermath

by sunnysidedown



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Do you see the common theme with my stories?, Gen, Grief, I told myself that the next thing I posted would be happy but uh, Im a liar, Im not sorry Sasuke, Im sorry Naruto, Theres a relationship there if you squint, Vaguely Superhero World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-21
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-28 01:16:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6308587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnysidedown/pseuds/sunnysidedown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“The rules of the world say that heroes never die,” Sasuke thought bitterly. “But I guess this world is wrong.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize that I do not know how to show and not tell. Also for the crappy grammar. Also weird POVs. Anyway, enjoy!

Sasuke’s eyes scanned the scene before him with the type of interest reserved for disasters like this one. He couldn’t look away from the broken concrete and twisted metal. Water gurgled from a hole where he assumed a fire hydrant used to be. It sloshed onto the streets and mixed with the dust, gasoline, and oil. The gasoline reflected the sunlight to paint the dirty water with psychedelic rainbows. He understood now why traffic slows so much when there’s a particularly bad crash pushed to the side of the freeway. It was a little bit for safety, but a lot more for morbid curiosity.

The parking garage – or at least what was left of it – entered Sasuke’s range of sight. He remembered when it collapsed. Three of the main support beams were destroyed. Surprisingly it didn’t fall right away. It was maybe ten or fifteen minutes later when he heard the loud groan, followed by a soft rumble, followed by a deafening crash. His ears had rung as dust engulfed the area. He could just see all the Mercedes-Benzes and Porches crumbling like paper as hundreds of tons of concrete rained down upon them. He had thanked the heavens for what seemed like the thousandth time that day that the city was already evacuated. Now all that was left of the garage was a mess of concrete and metal.

Out of all the destruction, the parking garage received the worst of it. Glass from shattered windows littered the streets. A UPS truck stuck out of the entryway of a Starbucks. Cars were upturned, light poles were bent, and the street was covered with large holes. The sudden blare of a car alarm startled Sasuke out of his trance. His duty was not done yet.

A crumpled body lay before his feet. If you just stared at his face, it looked like he was sleeping, that is, if you ignored the dirt and blood. The rest of his body made him look less he was sleeping and more like he was dead. Sasuke bent down and scooped him into his arms as gently as he could. His muscles strained against the weight; He was strong but he was tired. The thirty meters to the awaiting car felt like an eternity.

Naruto, the man in Sasuke’s arms, was this world’s salvation. Naruto, selfless and caring, was no longer moving. Naruto, with a knife lodged in his chest, was dead.

“If this was how the world had to be saved,” Sasuke’s quivering voice rang out to no one but Naruto’s dead body, “then this world is wrong.”

 

“How’re you holding up?” Sakura asked politely after the server left with their order.

“Hn,” Sasuke replied.

“Yeah. Me too,” Sakura said already well versed in Uchiha language. Ice clinked against the glass as her slender fingers swirled her straw. Despite her deep breaths and rapid blinking, Sakura’s eyes mimicked the condensation that began to form and drip down the sides of their glasses. “I just, I can’t believe he’s gone, Naruto…”

Sasuke didn’t say anything and they fell into silence. The conversation from the table behind them drifted over. It was loud enough to hear the shifts in tempo and pitch but soft enough that their words were just murmurs. Sakura’s eyes focused on the table while her hands ripped her napkin to shreds.

It had been two weeks since all the fighting ended, two months since Naruto died. That horrid day was the last major battle. The rest was just clean up. It was easy to get lost in the fighting. Emotions were easier to deal with when punching the enemy’s face in. But something was always off. The presence of Naruto was impossible to miss on their team. There were no more loud declarations of taking someone down, or after battle ramen feeds. No more eye-catching orange flickering in the peripherals, no more just-in-time rescues, no more clones, no more rasengans, no more Naruto. With each passing day of peace, it was harder to ignore the gaping hole he left.

“I hate this,” Sasuke suddenly said. Sakura looked up startled from her mess of napkins. He could feel it bubbling up inside him, the second stage of grief. “The idiot shouldn’t have died. Not like that. He should have fallen when I shoved my hand through his chest or when his skin was boiled off by the Kyuubi.” Sasuke’s hands tightened into fists, his knuckles turning white. “Not to a knife wound – a knife wound expected from an amateur alleyway knife fight! I should have been faster. I should have been there. Why couldn’t I – “ Sasuke cut himself off and took a deep calming breath. He released his hands.

…protect him. Protect him like he, Naruto, protected the world. Because the whole world mattered to Naruto, but Naruto was the only thing in the world that mattered to Sasuke.

Sakura placed her hand over his in support. She knew she couldn’t say anything to make it better. Nobody could. But she hoped that this small act would be some sort of comfort. Sasuke leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. The server brought their food.

Sasuke and Sakura dragged their hands to their respective silverware and ate in solemn silence. The silence eventually turned into meaningless small talk, but the missing third voice echoed louder than what they could ever cover up.

They paid when they finished and left. Before they could part ways, Sakura grabbed Sasuke’s hand and forced him into a hug. Sakura could feel the muscles in Sasuke’s back stiffen. “Don’t do anything stupid okay?” Sakura sniffed. Sasuke relaxed and Sakura could feel his nod. Sakura let go.

Sakura watched as Sasuke began to walk off, his hands in his pockets. His normally poised shoulders drooped, his confident stride was gone, his steps made no noise. He was alive, but he was like a ghost gliding down the street. The farther away he got the smaller he became and the more obvious it was that there was something… someone missing from the space to his left.

This world was wrong.

 

Sunlight danced over a towering bronze statue of a handsome man staring gallantly into the distance. The sculptor must have never seen a picture of Naruto up close. The statue was lean and toned while Naruto was more on the bulky side. His hair was longer and wilder on the statue to give him an unrefined comic book hero vibe. The one thing the sculptor got right was his face. Naruto’s strong jaw line, his trademark grin, and his slightly bent nose from one too many punches to the face were perfectly replicated in the bronze metal. His eyes were exact in shape but held no life. There were no blue eyes filled with wonder staring out at the world, just empty bronze sockets. The sculptor was good at little details, but she couldn’t quite breathe life into the piece.

A bird flew overhead and added to the baked poop collection on Naruto’s shoulder. A soft chuckle escaped Sasuke’s lips. It had been many years since that fateful day. The damage to the city was repaired. Naruto’s statue now stood where the parking garage once was. The Starbucks was fully functional and now spanned two stories. The streets were clean, the holes were filled, and the fire hydrant was back in place. The world calmed down and was living in peace.

But this world was wrong.

Naruto should not be a statue. He should be out saving the world. He should be standing by Sasuke laughing at the bird poop on some other statue’s shoulder. He should be coming home to their run down apartment complaining about all the stairs he had to walk up and wishing to move to a place with an elevator. He should be holding Sasuke’s hand even though Sasuke said he didn’t want it but he did it anyway because he knew Sasuke was lying. He should be alive. But he wasn’t.

Time has made Sasuke come to a conclusion. No matter if this world was right or wrong, the sun would keep on rising and setting, over and over an infinite amount of times. Babies would be born and would grow old and would eventually die. In between birth and death, they would make friends, get married, get into accidents, argue, laugh, cry, live. Life would go on even when there were no longer any humans on earth. Plants would grow and overtake cities. Animals would roam freely and live and die and live and die. And in five billion years when the sun expanded and engulfed the Earth, some planet in some faraway galaxy would continue on with the cycle of life and death. The world would keep on turning even though this world was wrong.

**Author's Note:**

> This story was born because I always wonder what would happened if the Hero died before the story ended. Like I'm all for people coming back with the power of love and friendship, but also, I love suffering.  
> Thank you for reading. I promise the next thing I post will be happy.


End file.
